


a single step

by phloridas



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, I need to be stopped, M/M, because apparently dan murdering us all with six little letters wasn't enough, clearly, literally the fluffiest of fluff, post-show cuddles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-29
Packaged: 2019-04-29 12:17:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 826
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14472576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phloridas/pseuds/phloridas
Summary: It's the night after the first Interactive Introverts shows. And Dan iscertainlyfeeling the love.





	a single step

It’s strange how you can feel so dead yet so _alive_ at the same time.

That’s been this whole day for Dan. This whole week, really. Had he actually performed two shows (nearly) back to back? Had they actually laid their hearts bare before two different audiences? Was he really going to do this for the next five months?

Of course he was. But first, there’s something far more important he needs to get to.

“God, this smells _incredible_ ,” Phil sighs. “I swear those shows burned off my entire body weight.”

“Hmmmm, well I’m glad they didn’t.” Dan pinches Phil’s arm as he tucks himself into Phil’s space. The hotel shades are drawn, shielding them from both the night and the world outside. Phil’s breath is light on his neck. Every one of Dan’s hairs is standing on end, but it’s the best kind of thrill. Soft and undulating, like waves lapping against the Brighton shores just a short drive away.

_Is this true happiness?_

The takeaway spread before the two, the softest of white duvets tucked amongst them, and Phil’s laptop set to Netflix seems to suggest so. Even amidst the fuzz of exhaustion, something glows in Dan’s brain. It’s growing, too, brighter than the lights they spent the better part of this week standing under.

Phil traces a little pattern along Dan’s palm with one hand while cracking open their takeaway with the other. The silence stretches before them like the roads they’ll be trekking for most of this year, until Phil finally speaks up. “So the world knows all our secrets. Well...mostly. How’s that holding up for you?”

“Truthfully?” Dan bites his lip, searching his heart and his head for the right words for his feelings. “I mean...we’ve gone over these shows enough, haven’t we? It’s just weird to have it out in the open like this when it’s been this big huge secret all year. Same as every one of those ‘big reveals’, I guess.”

Phil scans his face for a second, then nods. “Yeah, I definitely get that feeling. I kind of keep waiting for someone to swoop in and cancel all the shows, tell us it’s been a horrible idea all along. Did we...I mean, are we really ready for people to see the real Dan and Phil? The real... _us?_ ”

It’s all Dan can do not to wrap his arms around Phil and squeeze until the fear in his eyes is replaced with the soft contentment that looks so good on him. “ _Babe._ But isn’t that what the last year and a half has been for? You’re so much more than AmazingPhil. And the world deserves to see that.”

Phil’s lips twitch a little, but they don’t tug up all the way. It pokes a Phil-sized hole in his heart, because Dan _knows_ that feeling. “Yeah. I mean, I know, but...Dan, what if people get demanding after this? What if they start expecting things that we just can’t give them? They know, but should they know? The world’s so _big._ You never know who could get a hold of what we’re putting out after this, what could be used against us…”

“Phil, Phil, _babe._ Hey, it’s gonna be okay. It _will_.” Dan grips Phil’s hands in both of his, pleading with those blue eyes to fill with something, (almost) anything but the countless questions and hurt behind them. “Maybe people know we’re in this for life, maybe they’ll know these dinners and some of the laughs, yeah. But they’ll never know this. Not unless we want them to.” He taps Phil’s foot with his own, curling their toes together for a second. “You know that, right?”

Phil’s smile is a little bigger than before, even if it still doesn’t reach his eyes. Dan still counts that as an accomplishment.

“Yeah, I guess I do. It’s just...weird. People are probably picturing us in this exact moment, trying to find their own meaning in it. I’ll never get used to that.”

“I won’t either. But we can still learn to live with it. And that’s enough, yeah?” Phil’s laptop dims and Dan pulls one hand away to wake it up.

Finally, Phil melts into Dan. It’s kind of wonderful, the way his body moulds into Dan’s side like they’re made for each other. (And maybe they are, if Phil’s beliefs are anything to go by.) It’s warm and delicious and exactly what Dan needs. His heart flutters.

“Yeah. Hey,” Phil gestures with his free hand toward his laptop screen, “the trash awaits.”

Dan just grins as he unpauses _Riverdale_. In this moment, he feels he may never stop smiling. It’s actually quite beautiful.

Maybe the next five months won’t always be like this. But if he can get even a few of these days, Dan thinks maybe it’ll be alright.

And at the start of this endless-looking journey, that’s honestly more than he could hope for.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hi on [Twitter](http://twitter.com/phloridas) and [Tumblr](http://phloridas.tumblr.com) @phloridas! And thank you so much for reading! <3
> 
> Oh, and CONGRATULATIONS to Dan and Phil for (what sounds like) a wonderful start to the tour! If this day was anything to go by, the next five months are gonna be a wild ride. And I am SO here for it.


End file.
